The present invention relates to a sports pad and, more particularly, to an athletic sports pad which can be worn by football players.
Contact sports, such as football, involve varying degrees of intentional contact between players and, thus, often require protective pads to be positioned and located on various parts of the body to protect the player from such contact. In football, players typically wear shoulder pads, hip pads, and the like, which are positioned under the uniform. More recently, football players wear elbow pads, forearm pads, and even hand pads. However, given the generally inflexible nature of such pads, the pads tend to restrict the ability of players to hold onto the football. This is especially true with forearm and hand pads.
Typical forearm pads are constructed of a tubular member, which is formed from an elastic material, and one or more pads which are either positioned in a sleeve provided in the tubular member or attached to the outer surface of the tubular member. The forearm pad, therefore, includes a padded portion, which is somewhat inflexible due to the pad, and an elastic portion, which stretches to permit the wearer of the pad to put the pad on the arm and to permit the wearer to a limited degree to bend his or her arm. When worn on the player's arm, the padded portion is positioned outwardly with the elastic portion facing inwardly toward the player's body. Thus, when the football player carries a ball, the football player must hold the football with his hand and position the football between the elastic portion of the forearm pad and the player's chest to protect the football from being knocked free from the player's grasp. However, the elastic material of the tubular member tends to reduce the football player's grip on the ball since the material has a low coefficient of friction as compared to the football player's skin. Although these forearm and hand pads are highly desirable to protect the hands and forearms of players, especially younger players, from the blows which are normally associated with such contact sports, players often forego wearing such protective gear to increase the player's ability to carry the ball.
Consequently, there is a need for a protective sports pad which permits the wearer of the sports pad to hold a football securely in the player's arm and still provide the adequate protection of the forearm or wrist of the football player against blows from other players.